The Five mile Act

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Makes an interesting read...

After John Aubrey introduced Charles II to Avebury in 1663, the monarch was keen that the site was recorded and protected. Which is rather ironic as only two years later Charles II gave assent to the Five Mile Act (1665) that instigated a five mile exclusion zone around towns precluding those non-conformists dispossessed by the Act of Uniformity (1662). Drawing five mile circles around populated areas created an island of Avebury, that just happened to be a little over five miles from Marlborough, Pewsey, Devizes, Calne, Wootton Bassett, Wroughton, Chiseldon, and the Ogbournes. Avebury was thus highlighted as an official haven for ‘Five Mile’ refugees.
Avebury presented such an oasis that Noah Webb travelled each week from Hampshire to preach and Thomas Rashley, who had been dispossessed of Barford St Martin, relocated. John Baker, dispossessed of Chiseldon in 1662, started a chapel at Avebury with Thomas Mills of Calne in 1670, and other dissenters followed. In 1670 there were 25 non-conformists and 181 Anglicans in Avebury, but by 1715 the non-conformist congregation had swelled to 130. As the Act of Indulgence was introduced in 1672 the increase was perhaps not all due to incomers, but if it was not an influx of Puritanism that sought to destroy the Avebury stones, then the expansion in population and focus saw sarsens removed to create plots and pasture with the stones broken up for building material.
Among the leaders of the Avebury non-conformists at the turn of the century was William Stukeley’s arch-villain Thomas Robinson, who, through stone clearances of individual pasture plots and sarsen-breaking for infill housing, was accommodating and speculatively encouraging colonisation of the Avebury circle by immigrant dissenters. The congregation also included ‘stone-breaker’ Thomas Griffin, whose father was a founder member of the chapel. John Griffin purchased his farm in 1681 as did Richard Phelps, and land was purchased by Mary Stevenson who was to marry Walter Stretch landlord or the Catherine Wheel, giving birth to George Stretch who was perhaps one of those dissenting offspring refused Baptism by Avebury’s vicar who also refused to bury non-conformists.
Despite the hostile attitudes demonstrated towards non-conformist settlers by the all Anglican local establishment of squire, vicar, and parish clerk (a hostility, noted by Aubrey as the result of eating too much cheese, and interpreted by the soon to be ordained Stukeley as individual fondness for sarsens); Tithe disputes had undermined Anglican worship in the parish and indigenous parishioners viewed the ‘separatist’ incomers as ordinary folk more like themselves than the establishment were ever likely to be. Thus Avebury parishioners dug graves for dissenters, and even tolled the church bell for their loss. The neighbourly disposition was thereby welcoming when a geographical chapel community, based around the chapel built in Samuel Morris’s centre circle garden, grew in focus to form a chapel village quite distinct from Avebury church village.

Avebury was thus transformed from a church settlement pattern adjacent to a henge, much akin to that found at Marden in Wiltshire today, to housing a quite separate and distinct satellite community nucleated through a centre circle farm. Walls, paths, and buildings were constructed of sarsen, as was the ‘Five Mile’ Gothic styled chapel.
William Stukeley loved this sort of low constructed Gothic, so it must have proved painfully ironic for the conformist father of field archaeology to record that Avebury’s ‘Temple’ had been robbed of sarsen to build such a non-conformist chapel, in a design he loved.
The Five Mile Act saw the internal boundaries of Avebury redrawn a century prior to being redrawn again under the enclosure movement. Stones that remained part of boundaries tended to survive unless they fell, in which case they were broken up and removed, but the additional boundary changes placed additional stones at risk.

Avebury: the inclusion of boundary lines explains sarsen survivals.

Of those stones that survived the building programme that followed the influx of Five Milers, a pocket of stones remained on ground petrified between the chapel’s west boundary and the pre-existing common pound that bordered the road from the south. The stones protected on this no-man’s land were destined to survive, except those that remained on the corner of the Kennett road and Green Street. They fell prey to the convenience and increased speed of wheeled transport entering and leaving the Five Mile village.
Change begets change, and the timing of the Five Mile Act had an effect as catastrophic as the influx it caused. For following the Civil War, the Restoration, and Great Fire of London, a gradual programme of uplift and modernity upgraded main routes linked with London to support the carriage of building material. Roads outside this network were in appalling and sometimes impassable condition, but irrespective of this the traffic to and from London continued to grow. The geographical misfortunes of the Five Mile Act was thus compounded by Avebury’s position betwixt London and Bristol, and the draw created by dissenters regularly travelling to Avebury was an incitement to those piloting haulage and later coach routes on what frequently were no more than droves. Littered as the Downs are with sarsens the stones were destined to feed the - at first sporadic and local then later systematic and national - road repairs, and the increased traffic this eventually witnessed in turn supported an expanding roadside infrastructure including the building of roadhouses and the extension of inns. After churches, monasteries and manor houses, the buildings most notably utilising stone were inns, and the enlargement and improvement of facilities at this time persuaded carriers to patronise the premises.
Much the same as the Red Lion dining room was extended to accommodate a dance band when Alexander Keiller brought prosperity to inter-war Avebury, a dining room extension was added to Avebury’s 17th century Catherine Wheel, the landlord of which opened another inn of the same name at Beckhampton, where the Bear (now the Wagon and Horses) was built in 1669.
It is instructive that those most criticised by Stukeley, if not separatists, were actually landlords: Walter Stretch of the Catherine Wheel, John Fowler of the White Hart at Kennet, and Richard Fowler of the Hare and Hounds, Beckhampton, which is now the Wagon and Horses. These landlords were entrepreneurs and subsequently seized upon the rising trade following the influx of Five Milers to Avebury. For while Puritans were perhaps not all inn users as such, not all separatists were devout Puritans, and of more significance is the timing and resultant influence of their influx. The timing of the draw their gatherings created was not only significant in relation to the adoption of routes in the carriage of goods from Bristol to London, but the Bristol route gave rise to embryonic service areas on the developing route between London and the budding resort of Bath.
At the onset of the 18th century the old western approach to Avebury became increasingly impassable to developing travel, and a by-pass was required to avoid both the hazardous river crossing and corners difficult for horse teams, that due to the heavy going of the roads were of great length and number. Hence ‘New Bridge’ had to be built south of the old crossing in 1701, and is still the route into Avebury from Bath and Bristol roads to this day. The old boundaries, routes and paths superseded through wheeled transport demanding easy convenient and speedier access were almost unrecognisable by 1794 (see below), and this illustrates how the seeming permanence of landscape soon overshadows the palimpsest.

In 1724 Avebury’s south bank was cut back to facilitate the faster passage of coaches, and the danger posed by further main road improvements was to linger for some time. Avebury’s development on the Bath Road happened in part because the present Fyfield to Marlborough route north of the Kennet had, from the Norman Conquest, been blocked to through traffic by the extent of the castle grounds, from which Aubrey riding to hounds with Richard Seymour ‘discovered’ Avebury in 1649. The alternative routes had approached Marlborough either south of the river after crossing the Kennet at Fyfield, or from the north, as Pepys had travelled, leaving Avebury on Green Street then passing the Old Eagle at Rockley. Marlborough was somewhat circumnavigated leading to a loss of trade, and while traffic was rerouted over Castle Bridge c 1706 to make the High Street a thoroughfare, petitions complained that ‘passengers and droves from London to Bristol’ were using ‘bye-ways and trespass on corn and commons’ to by-pass the town because of the state of the roads. The Marlborough Beckhampton road was finally turnpiked in 1743, Celia Fiennes having witnessed c 1700 the demolition of the early 17th century civil war damaged house that had succeeded the castle estate, clearing the way for the magnificent house that would become the famous ‘Castle’ coaching inn of the Bath Road c1751. The new route inevitably accounted for yet more sarsens both in respect of the road and the infrastructure, for the White Hart at Kennett came to the fore around 1710-1720 as the riverside route was coming to fruition, and the owner of Avebury’s Catherine Wheel foresaw the change, which is why he built another inn of the same name at Beckhampton.

Stukeley 1724, a horseman using the west ditch entrance.

The Five Mile Act instigated a chain of tremendous change between the times of Aubrey and Stukeley, the latter complaining bitterly that the destruction of Avebury was so recent he could write the obituary of each stone. The pace of this change we might judge as a coach took Samuel Pepys into Avebury in 1668, only three years after the Five Mile Act and before the founding of the chapel. In 1697 Joseph Howard of Beckhampton cleared some fields and meadow of stones, and opened a local shop. In 1706 Avebury had a market, and around 1694 the Great Bank was to accommodate a large threshing barn north-east of the church. Newly built, so large no doubt to accept the produce from local agricultural expansions, to which farmers Green and Griffin were to contribute. This was the ‘Parsonage Barn’, drawn by Stukeley. Many of the buildings he was to draw were new or newly extended, and although Stukeley never mentioned it, the Revd. James Mayo gave the vicarage and its garden a make-over when he took over from John White (d.1712) and no doubt recycled material from the adjacent ancient rockery.
While the Five Milers accounted for a number of the stones that Aubrey had found present but had disappeared by Stukeley’s day, it is fair to note that the Five Milers did not introduce stone breaking to Avebury. Nor did they import the knowledge of how this was achieved more efficiently by stone burning. Long before the Restoration the vicar of Winterbourne Monkton, Parson Brinsden, informed Aubrey how the stones were being heated up to be broken, and in 1644, more than twenty years before the Five Mile Act, Richard Symonds noted stones being broken on Fyfield Down.
Until the seventeenth century, stone buildings in the vicinity were few. Restricted perhaps to church, manor, and priory. The process of using natural landscape materials to construct simple vernacular buildings was mostly restricted to timber, chalk, wattle and daub. Simple structures had no foundations, and prior to the discovery of the fire and water method for breaking megaliths, whole sarsens of a manageable size were introduced at the base of vernacular structures, and surviving buildings that deploy sarsens in this fashion remain evidence of the simple early uses of sarsen and an indication of the period when they were first used.
The Forge demolished at Overton in 1986 had whole uncut sarsens in its make-up, and from a coin in the base of the structure was of early 17th century origin. Conveniently supporting the supposition that while Aubrey started recording Avebury after stone breaking had begun, it was perhaps not very long after this that stone breaking was put to wider use. The Restoration seems an ironic starting point for the wholesale destruction of sarsens, albeit primarily for roads, but had it started very much earlier then it seems likely that Aubrey would not have found so many stones remaining.
Avebury visitor numbers have appreciably climbed since access to Stonehenge was limited during the 1980s, and the number attending the solstice at the lesser known site leapt when access to the more famous stone circle was denied. Even before the proposed road closures at Stonehenge, however, change once again has visited Avebury. The Five Mile chapel has recently undergone major building work, being converted into the Tourist Information office. Roads and paths were dug up to lay pipes and cables, and modern facilities installed. Double yellow lines have been painted along the Avenue, wooden posts line the northern approach, parking is now restricted and charged for, and huge new signs have been installed marking the World Heritage Site that also embraces Stonehenge.

The attendance at Stonehenge is already largely increased, and when the …
railway is opened ... I fear that the class of visitor will be very different to what
it was in former years. (What) would (you) advise for preservation and protection to
meet these very altered circumstances?
(Sir Edmund Antrobus to Henry Medlicott, 31 December 1900)

From Stonehenge the average saloon car can reach Avebury in around 30 minutes. If the tunnel removes the free view of the stones and this drives tourists to Avebury, most will not recognise the irony as they pass the new World Heritage Site signs on the four main approach roads, located as they are around five miles from Marlborough, Devizes, Calne, and Wroughton…

Age : 44 Joined : 11 Apr 2008 Posts : 36 Location : Surrey

Very interesting Tony.
Did that take a while to research?

Subject: Re: The Five mile Act Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:40 pm

Tony,
where did you get that from?
I think BB may have written it, I've certainly read it before.
PeteG

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

I found it here..

http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/regionhistory/RHissue%2012/Changing%20Aveburya.doc

Brian Edwards.

I trawl the Internet searching for any Avebury topic, or related subjects. It has become quite compulsive.

But also necessary, as my knowledge to date has been woefully inadequate..

Joined : 19 Jan 2008 Posts : 215

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Joined : 19 Jan 2008 Posts : 215

The new monogram appearing in May - M. Gillings, J. Pollard, D. Wheatley, R. Peterson, Landscape of the Megaliths: excavation and fieldwork on the Avebury monuments, 1997-2003 (2008), may well put a different emphasis on the Five Mile Act. I haven't read it yet but I suspect there will be a reflection that many other local villages also used sarsens to build houses and walls, so among the questions we must ask ourselves is whether the extent of sarsen use at Avebury was any different to elsewhere. Was there for example more walls and buildings made of sarsen, and whether certain walls appear in the landscape because the sarsen was immediately to hand?

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Joined : 19 Jan 2008 Posts : 215

Joined : 19 Jan 2008 Posts : 215

Ooops, lost half the message.

Basically, I only wanted to add that I hope that helps,

Smile

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Makes perfect sense to me..

I find myself less interested in opinions and theories and far more interested in facts..

Which is why I questioned your reply.

I was unsure if you was disputing the facts in the post.

Thanks for the offer of the pamphlet but I will be down that way soon enough (Family live down that way) I will pick one up then.

I was there only a few weeks back, but I already feed the need to see it again

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Tony, this is a fascinating bit of history, thank you for posting it. Your enthusiasm for the history, and especially that of Avebury is catching, I have been delving back into the archives of Radio 4's "This Sceptered Isle" and came across something under "Church, Law and Medicine" which referred to the Clarendon Code enforcing conformity to the Church of Englnad. It also gave a concise definition of "The Five Mile Act" 1665 as follows:

"Forbade clergy to go within five miles of any city or town corporate or borough or any parish or place where they held a living."

It also mentioned "The Conventicle Act" of 1664 which allowed for punishment of any persons over 16 for attending a religious meeting not conducted according to the Book of Common Prayer.

North Wiltshire has some very interesting history indeed. I was visiting the village of Purton the other day (now a suburb of Swindon) and found some fascinating history on my own doorstep - sometimes it feels as though I have spent many years sleepwalking through the day to day business of 'life' and its only by delving back into history that things gain perspective.

Thanks also to BB and I will get hold of Hilary Dunscombe's little publication next time I am in Avebury - which hopefully will be very soon.

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

My main interest since a small boy has been military history, both modern and ancient. PeteG 'turned' me to the 'Dark Side' of History Twisted Evil

...

Plus - a natural desire to photograph things.

I was searching for information on The De Tancarvilles. when I stumbled across the info of the reformists... We spend a lot of time in France and those Normandy born Vikings intrigue me.. Now I will have to search for info on them and what ever else crops up... lol!

Trouble is..

Friends and family are becoming wary of talking to me.. in case I..
'Start'

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Thanks June.. I will look out for that book..

I lost my Dad last year.. I didn't know until his funeral that he was at Dunkirk..

My interest in history is patchy to say the least... I am still learning about the local history of the North Downs..

Subject: Re: The Five mile Act Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:57 pm

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Subject: A Village Republic Sat May 10, 2008 3:28 am

A Village Republic

Sarsen is a village that has no great landlord.

There are fifty small proprietors, and not a single resident magistrate.
Besides the small farmers, there are scores of cottage owners, every one of whom is perfectly independent.

Nobody cares for anybody.
It is a republic without even the semblance of a Government.
It is liberty, equality, and swearing.

As it is just within the limit of a borough, almost all the cottagers have votes, and are not to be trifled with.

The proximity of horse-racing establishments adds to the general atmosphere of dissipation. Betting, card-playing, ferret-breeding and dogfancying, poaching and politics, are the occupations of the populace.

A little illicit badger-baiting is varied by a little vicar-baiting.

Richard Jefferies, 1879

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Can you post the grid reference Chance, I'm on my way!

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey